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Abbott to address US 'gay-hate' group

Tony Abbott will travel to the US to address Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious group opposed to abortion and gay-marriage.

Mr Abbott, who has been in the US for several days, met Mr Obama at a lunch of the Alfalfa Club, an informal gathering of high-powered businesspeople and politicians, according to multiple sources.

The impromptu meeting was reported in News Corp papers as the pair having "met privately", suggesting Mr Abbott was still being actively courted and received by the Obama administration in what would be a source of frustration for his successor Malcolm Turnbull.

When Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama met, it was passed off mainly as a pro-forma meet-and-greet for the new Australian leader. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Abbott is understood to have also attended the club's main social event of the year, a dinner held on Saturday night at Washington's Capital Hilton hotel, though Mr Obama did not attend the dinner.

News Corp cited an anonymous source saying that the pair had a "very warm and intimate discussion" and that "it was obvious Obama was pleased to see him". It also quoted Mr Abbott saying the US wanted "senior Australians speaking strongly on important global issues".

Last week he gave a speech in New York to the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom in which he said that allowing same-sex couples to wed would contribute to "the erosion of family".

The Alfalfa Club is a weighty organisation, with members including Microsoft's Bill Gates, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and senior members of Congress from both sides of politics.

Mr Andrews is due on Wednesday morning Australian time to deliver a speech to the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation on defence and security, in a move that has irritated colleagues.

National security is one of the proxy wars still being fought in the Liberal Party with some supporters of Mr Abbott seeking to paint him as a stronger leader against the less hawkish Mr Turnbull.